NICKY Forster hailed his team's gutsy performance against league leaders Brighton, which was eventually undermined by Karleigh Osborne's own goal on 73 minutes.

The Bees boss said his players were devastated to lose after putting in a supreme effort and did not deserve to lose.

“We asked for a response after Saturday and I thought we got that,” Forster said.

“Our lads are devastated to lose it and if they [Brighton] are honest, they will say they got three points that probably weren't deserved.

“We went toe to toe with far away the best team in the league tonight and gave a very good account of ourselves.

“We need to keep that level of performance and take that into Saturday's game [at Charlton].

“They like to dictate and like to play and we tried to stop that tonight and I thought we were successful in doing it. I think the amount of noise coming from their bench showed that it was a frustrating night for them.”

Forster conceded his team lack a cutting edge, but felt key decisions went against his men – including the penalty for a foul by Osborne on Glenn Murray which Richard Lee saved to keep the score at 0-0 early in the second half.

“I thought the penalty was soft,” Forster said. “For the goal that decided the game, I told the officials that I thought there was a definite pull on Karleigh's shirt and I think that contributed to the own goal.